


A Landslide Begins With A Single Pebble

by Desiderii



Category: Books of the Raksura - Martha Wells
Genre: Gen, Not Yet Friends, Trapped
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-12-22
Updated: 2013-12-22
Packaged: 2018-01-05 14:12:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,113
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1094864
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Desiderii/pseuds/Desiderii
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Moon and River are trapped together in a landslide. Their first priority is getting out.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Landslide Begins With A Single Pebble

**Author's Note:**

  * For [snarkydame](https://archiveofourown.org/users/snarkydame/gifts).



> Thank you to my yuletide giftee, because I love this series and it was a joy to have an excuse to read it again. Also, thank you to my beta for looking things over. Any typos are my fault, not hers. :)

Moon’s claws scraped on the stone that covered the passage exit and drew sparks. The rustle of spines came from behind, as did a shift of weight and the scrape of wings on the passage walls. Moon bristled and waited for the inevitable attack. 

“Find anything?” River asked in a growl. The sparks died and the darkness closed in again.

It might be daylight outside, but the stone blocked every bit of light that might have otherwise found them. Moon hissed and said, “Sealed.” It was hard not to be impatient with River when every word out of his mouth sounded like an accusation. “Did you check the back?’ 

“Dead end,” River said. His spines rattled and a moment later the meaty sound of a fist hitting the wall found Moon in the dark. 

“There is a way out,” Moon told him. He didn’t bother to make his words reassuring; he wanted River to stop complaining. “We just have to find it.” 

For a long count of ten, River remained silent. He then shouldered past Moon with ill grace to dig his own claws into the crack between the stone and the wall of the passage. “There’s nothing back there.” 

“Fine,” Moon said. He backed away from the stone and the struggling River and felt his way along the wall. The passage narrowed to a dead end in only a few paces. They were lucky to be alive. Any more shallow of a cave and they would have been crushed. Any deeper and on this particular mountain there would have been something living inside ready to eat them. With the massive stone across the entrance there was little likelihood of any further injury. Even with the aftershocks and the dark - the only danger here was being stuck in a small space with River.

Moon didn’t know if Chime or Drift had gotten clear of both the mountain and their pursuers, how much of the mountain had sloughed off the peak, or how deep they were buried. They needed to get out.

A faint breeze blew from a series of honeycomb holes in the solid stone. Moon poked a claw in a couple, but there were no cracks he could find purchase and no indication that it was anything but a vent. The air smelled wet and muddy and faintly of vermin. River was right, though. There was no way out in the back unless they had some of the groundings’ firepowder.

There was no way out at all unless they found a way to move the stone trapping them in. 

Moon returned to the front of the cave. “We need to try and push.” 

“We wouldn’t be here if you’d do what you were supposed to,” River rasped in frustration. 

“That is an old complaint. You can’t use it for everything,” Moon said. “Move over.” He needed River’s strength with his to move a stone of this size. Neither of them could afford to give into their tempers for a fight in the dark.

River hissed at him but did as he was told. Moon extended a hand to judge where River stood, his claws clicking against River’s scales. River rattled his spines in annoyance. Trying to arrange themselves in the dark without wanting to touch each other more than necessary proved a challenge. Eventually they stood shoulder to shoulder, wedged together at the blocked entrance. The passage was barely wide enough for both of them standing next to each other. Their wings had no place to go, but by unspoken agreement neither of them shifted to groundling. Groundling skin was more likely to damage and claws gave better purchase, and neither of them wanted to be groundling in the dark with the other. 

Wings tucked as well as he was able, Moon gripped the uneven stone of the cave floor with his foot claws. He lashed his tail and readied himself to push. “On my mark?” 

River grunted. With only Moon to complain at, he was being very quiet. 

“Go.” 

Moon and River pushed in tandem. For a count of ten, Moon snarled under his breath and shoved as hard as he could against the unmoving stone. The sounds of exertion from River and the tension he could feel whenever their shoulders touched said that River was using every bit of his strength as well. Moon hated counting on River, but when push came to shove - literally and metaphorically, River did his part. 

Just as Moon was about to give up, the stone shifted at the base and slid out just enough to give him hope. Fine dust trickled in from the seam where the top of the stone met the upper ceiling of the cave. Moon’s foot slipped and set up a whole new spray of sparks. He flailed, suppressing the urge to use his wings in the tiny space to catch himself. River caught his arm to keep him upright. He released Moon as soon as he found his balance. 

“It moved,” River said. 

Moon nodded into the dark, then added, “I felt it. Again.” 

It took less time to rearrange themselves. When Moon said go, however, the stone remained stubborn. With their initial success in mind, Moon called ‘go’ until they were both panting. River called the last ‘go’ when Moon ran out of breath. 

River slid down to sit at the base of the stone with a noisy descending scrape of scales.

“Try again in a minute?” Moon asked, his voice low and wheezy.

River groaned and stood up. “Fine.” The rattle of spines against stone kept Moon aware of River’s position as he retreated to the back end of the tiny cave. 

Moon found his breath after a while and said, “It hasn’t moved again.” 

Out of the dark came River’s reply. “I know.” 

“The mountain may have covered the entrance. We could be pushing at an entire peak’s worth of dirt.” 

“I know.” 

“I am going to keep pushing until we get out of here.” 

Moon’s words met with a long silence. Moon could hear River shifting and the thick sound of wings as they opened, thudded lightly against the walls, and closed again. At last River said, “I know.”

“Will you?” Moon asked.

There was no hesitation, just a clipped and insulted, “Yes.” The irritated rattle of spines filled the small cave. 

Moon sat. The cave contained nothing to lever the stone with, and while they had air neither of them had water. Both had lost everything they had been carrying to one misfortune after another: the chase and the landslide and losing track of everyone else and getting trapped.

River spoke up out of the dark, “You are going to get others killed. You are too unpredictable.” 

Fair enough that River blamed him for the events of the past day, Moon admitted to being the catalyst. Unpredictable, however, was just a fancy way of saying that Moon made decisions in dealing with his own people when he only had half the information he needed. “I try not to get anyone killed.” 

“I don’t like you,” River said, his voice partially muffled. The words were not new to anyone with eyes to see, but River’s tone made it a confession. He sounded tired.

Exasperated, Moon said, “You don’t have to like me. Just stop making everything harder.” 

The ground beneath them shuddered again and for a moment Moon thought the ceiling was about to give way. Dust trickled down on top of his head in a steady stream, and it came from the crack between stone and ceiling. 

“Something moved,” Moon said. He gave the stone an experimental push. There was no give that he could feel, no sign that the stone would move, but a renewed shower of dust forced him to step back and cough. “If this stone comes loose we might end up buried.” 

“Or we might escape.” River spoke from the dark a scant few paces from Moon. Moon whipped around in reflex and remembered to tuck his wings tight to his back at the last second so as not to damage them on the surrounding stone. There was actual amusement in River’s question as he asked, “Rested?” 

Moon coughed again at the dust that now filled the air. “Rested enough.”

Squeezing into the space before the stone took more effort this time, the dirt coming in from above at a steady enough rate that their footing grew treacherous. This time, however, when Moon said ‘go’ and pushed with all his might, something shifted on the other side of the stone and it tipped. The top of the stone peeled away from the ceiling of their cave to roll backward and away under the weight of sliding dirt from above. Moon lost hold of it within moments. More dirt poured on top of both of them and they were forced to abandon the stone or become buried in the renewed slide.

Light shone through the cascade. “We might have to chance it,” Moon said. “Or the mountain might settle and cover us completely.”

“Ready when you are.” 

Moon scrabbled on the loose dirt, River right behind him, but there was no purchase to be had. Every attempt to grip and claw out found them traveling back into the cave on a renewed wave of pebbles mixed with the detritus of a ruined mountainside. As a last-ditch attempt to get at least one of them out, Moon grasped River’s waist and shoved him forward and River reached up through the pouring dirt. He found nothing to grab on to and the pair of them tumbled back into the cave when a rogue branch knocked Moon’s feet out from underneath him. 

“I found air,” River said and flexed his claws in front of his eyes as soon as they both sat up. There was light now, but it was dim, and the cave floor was covered in a slope of dirt all the way to the back. “We’re not buried alive.” 

“I usually try not to get anyone killed,” Moon repeated, panting and relieved. The shifting dirt may have stymied them once, but if there was open air just beyond the worst of their obstacle, then there was a chance they could get to it. “Again?” 

River nodded, just visible in the dust-filled light filtering through the landslide. He stood and his claws sunk deep into the loose dirt.

The welcome sound of Chime’s voice came from outside. “Moon? Was that you?” 

“River and Moon,” shouted River. “Get us out.” 

“River?” A second voice joined the first. 

“Get us out!” River repeated too loud for the tiny cave. Moon winced.

Chime kept up a running commentary on the efforts of their rescuers. “We saw a Raksura claw appear and disappear. We’ve been searching ever since the mountain came down. Hold on, we’re blocking the slide right above you.” 

“Did everyone escape?” Moon asked. 

Dirt stopped filling their cave whenever Moon or River disturbed the pile that blocked the entrance.

“The landslide only caught you two,” Chime said. Moon, relieved, sat down in the dirt and let his wings unfurl. The fear that River was right eased. Unable to see him, Chime continued, “The skylings abandoned chase to see to their village. As soon as you can, crawl out. The block we put up won’t hold long.”

River began to dig out the entrance. Moon pushed himself to his feet again and assisted. They squeezed into the open air one at a time out of a gap barely large enough for their wings. The stone and shattered-wood block above the cave entrance creaked and groaned under the weight of the landslide pressing down on it. 

Once they were out, the second voice proved to belong to Drift, who greeted River enthusiastically. Chime flung himself at Moon and clung as if he weren’t he one who had just saved the both Moon and River. “We thought you had been crushed.” 

“You still looked for me,” Moon said. He squeezed Chime’s shoulders to reassure him. 

“I had to,” Chime replied. 

River thanked Chime with what little good humor the rescue had given him, but said little and less to Moon as the four of them took flight to return to the rest of the group. The silence suited Moon well enough. Chime stayed close even when Moon rolled through some simple aerial acrobatics for the joy of them. 

When they landed back at camp and the others abandoned their campfires to greet them, River had a great many things to say about how poorly the day had gone and nothing at all to say about Moon.


End file.
